This invention relates to a cutting unit supported for rolling over the ground by one or more ground engaging rollers. More particularly, this invention relates to a brush assembly having a rotatable brush in engagement with the outer diameter of the roller for cleaning debris from the roller.
Mowers having reel cutting units are well known in the turf care industry for cutting grass. Such reel cutting units use a rotatable reel to sweep uncut grass against a sharpened bedknife to cut the grass. The reel cutting units include one or more ground engaging rollers to support the cutting unit for rolling over the ground. During operation, these rollers can become caked with grass clippings and the like, thereby changing the height of cut or decreasing the quality of cut provided by the cutting unit.
Various brushes are known in the art for cleaning debris from the outer diameter of the roller. Such a brush is supported on the frame of the cutting unit to be parallel to and overlie the roller. The brush typically includes a helical flight of brush bristles in engagement with the outer diameter of the roller. The brush is often powered by a belt drive system which rotates the brush at a speed of rotation different from the rotational speed of the roller to clean grass clippings and other debris from the roller. U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,433 shows a brush of this type.
Some prior art roller cleaning brushes are not uniformly adjustable relative to the roller to compensate for wear. For example, while one end of the brush can be raised or lowered relative to the roller as that end wears, the opposite end of the brush may not be so adjustable. Thus, even if one attempts to compensate for brush wear by lowering the adjustable end of the brush, this results in uneven cleaning across the length of the brush since the non-adjustable end cannot be similarly lowered. Thus, many prior art roller cleaning brushes must simply be removed and replaced after they begin to wear significantly.
Moreover, some prior art roller cleaning brushes adjust the belt tension in the belt drive system by sliding the bearing housing that supports the driven end of the brush fore and aft. However, the fore and aft position of the other end of the brush is fixed. Thus, the act of tensioning the belt will skew the brush relative to the roller in a fore and aft direction, with the driven side of the brush being further forward or further rearward than the non-driven side of the brush. This also affects how uniformly the brush cleans across the length of the roller.
Prior art roller cleaning brushes typically have the helical flight of brush bristles fixed to the roller brush shaft. For example, the brush bristles are often housed or cased in a base with the base being welded to the roller brush shaft. Thus, when the brush bristles become worn, it is necessary to remove and replace the entire brush, including the roller brush shaft to which the flight of brush bristles is attached. It is relatively expensive to replace the brush due to the fact that an entire new brush must be purchased and installed.
One aspect of this invention relates to a roller cleaning brush assembly for cleaning a ground engaging roller of a grass cutting unit of a mower. This roller cleaning brush assembly comprises a brush shaft rotatably journalled to the cutting unit with the brush shaft having at least one flight of brush bristles in contact with the roller to clean the roller. The flight of brush bristles is releasably attached to the brush shaft such that the flight of brush bristles can be removed and replaced on the brush shaft.
Another aspect of this invention relates to a roller cleaning brush assembly for cleaning a ground engaging roller of a grass cutting unit of a mower. This roller cleaning brush assembly comprises a rotatable brush attached to the cutting unit and having at least one flight of brush bristles in contact with the roller to clean the roller. A belt drive system is provided for rotating the brush. The belt drive system comprises an endless drive belt entrained around a drive pulley and a driven pulley. An idler member is in contact with the drive belt and movable relative to the drive belt for adjusting tension in the drive belt. The idler member is adjustable on the cutting unit to adjust the drive belt tension without changing the position of the brush relative to the roller.
Yet another aspect of this invention relates to a roller cleaning brush assembly for cleaning a ground engaging roller of a reel cutting unit of a mower. The reel cutting unit has a rotatable reel that sweeps uncut grass against a bedknife. One end of a shaft of the reel has an interiorly threaded bore. The roller cleaning brush assembly comprises a rotatable brush attached to the cutting unit and having at least one flight of brush bristles in contact with the roller to clean the roller. A belt drive system is provided for rotating the brush. The belt drive system is powered by a drive shaft having a non-circular socket at one end. A cap screw has a threaded shank and a non-circular head, the shank of the cap screw being screwed into the interiorly threaded bore on the one end of the cutting reel shaft and the non-circular head of the cap screw having a shape which matches that of the non-circular socket on the drive shaft to allow the head of the cap screw to be inserted into the socket on the drive shaft to rotatably power the drive shaft from rotation of the cutting reel shaft.